Astoria, Oregon
The guests of the M/V Sea Lion arrived at Fort Clatsop today under a grey, threatening sky. The wind blew through the spruce trees with a hiss, and the alder leaves fell like giant snowflakes. Fort Clatsop looked good, as it always does, but the real treat was meeting Tony Johnson, a member of the Chinook Indian Tribe.
Tony is in the process of carving a cedar canoe for Fort Clatsop and he interrupted his work for nearly a half-hour to give us a talk on traditional canoe building methods. When Lewis and Clark wintered in this area they immediately recognized the excellent design of these canoes and commented frequently about their seaworthiness. Capt. Lewis wrote on Feb. 1st, 1806,"The Canoes of the natives inhabiting the lower portion of the Columbia River make their canoes remarkably light and are well adapted for riding high waves. I have seen the natives near the coast riding waves in these canoes with safety and apparently without concern where I would have thought it impossible for any vessel of the same size to have lived a minute"
This rare encounter with Tony Johnson was a treat we will all remember for a long while.
The guests of the M/V Sea Lion arrived at Fort Clatsop today under a grey, threatening sky. The wind blew through the spruce trees with a hiss, and the alder leaves fell like giant snowflakes. Fort Clatsop looked good, as it always does, but the real treat was meeting Tony Johnson, a member of the Chinook Indian Tribe.
Tony is in the process of carving a cedar canoe for Fort Clatsop and he interrupted his work for nearly a half-hour to give us a talk on traditional canoe building methods. When Lewis and Clark wintered in this area they immediately recognized the excellent design of these canoes and commented frequently about their seaworthiness. Capt. Lewis wrote on Feb. 1st, 1806,"The Canoes of the natives inhabiting the lower portion of the Columbia River make their canoes remarkably light and are well adapted for riding high waves. I have seen the natives near the coast riding waves in these canoes with safety and apparently without concern where I would have thought it impossible for any vessel of the same size to have lived a minute"
This rare encounter with Tony Johnson was a treat we will all remember for a long while.
